Press Box

Saturday

Sep 29, 2007 at 3:19 AM

A New York Jets season-ticket holder filed a class-action lawsuit against the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick for “deceiving customers.” The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., by Carl Mayer of Princeton Township, N.J., stems from the Patriots being caught illegally videotaping signals from Jets coaches in New England’s 38-14 season-opening win Sept. 9. “They violated the integrity of the game,” Mayer’s attorney, Bruce Afran, told The Associated Press. “This is a way of punishing Belichick and the Patriots.” Mayer is seeking more than $184 million in damages for Jets ticket holders.

An Indiana bank sued suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick for not repaying loans involving a car rental business. 1st Source Bank of South Bend said in a federal lawsuit that it suffered damages of at least $2 million because Vick and Divine Seven LLC of Atlanta had refused to pay for the vehicles. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward has been ruled out of tomorrow’s game at Arizona because of a sprained right knee. Ward, a four-time Pro Bowl receiver, has missed only three games to injury in his 10-season NFL career. He sat out two games last December because of a hyperextended knee, and missed a 2005 game that ended a streak of games played at 116.

Woody Austin took a plunge, then made sure the rest of the Americans didn’t sink with him. Austin provided comic relief that instantly became part of Presidents Cup lore when he lost his balance and fell face-first into the lake along the 14th fairway. But he picked himself up, dried himself off, and found redemption with three straight birdies to earn an important halve on a day the International team dominated in Montreal. The International team won four matches to cut the Americans’ lead to 7-5 after two days. Vijay Singh and Stuart Appleby led the way by handing Tiger Woods his worst loss in team competition, 5 and 4, with partner Jim Furyk.

Boxer Shane Mosley is accused of using BALCO designer steroids “the clear” and “the cream” as part of a doping regimen before a 2003 fight against Oscar De La Hoya, SI.com reported. Citing multiple unidentified sources who attended an international anti-doping conference in Colorado Springs, Colo., last November, SI.com reported that lead BALCO investigator Jeff Novitzky alleged that Mosley began using those two drugs, as well as EPO, two months before the light middleweight championship fight won by Mosley. A BALCO client, Mosley was subpoenaed in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative investigation and testified before the grand jury in 2003. He always has denied doping and never has tested positive.

Russian tennis player Dmitry Tursunov said he was approached several times with offers of bribes to fix matches, a newspaper reported. “I was approached in Madrid in the middle of the season last year, and at some other tournament,” Tursunov told the daily Izvestia.

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